Introduction to Addiction: The Next Step

Isabel Byon 0:00

The New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, or OASAS, provides this podcast as a public service. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the agency or state. This is Addiction: The Next Step.

Mobile Services in Syracuse

Jerry Gretzinger 0:21

Hey everybody, this is Jerry Gretzinger, your host for Addiction: The Next Step. And, uh, today we are on the road. We are actually out in Syracuse because we are profiling some of the amazing work that's done with the opioid settlement funds. You know, you hear us talk a lot about the dollars that came into New York state that are awarded to states all across the nation.

Jerry Gretzinger 0:39

And the money is being put to work. We're happy to say in New York we were the fastest of the 50 states to cut that money out into the roads, into the streets and the communities to be put to use.

Mobile Services in Syracuse

Jerry Gretzinger 0:47

And this is some of the work we're doing to share the stories that have come out of those investments. So right now, I said we're in Syracuse, we're with Mariah Senecal-Reilly. She's the Director of Substance Use Initiatives with the Onondaga County Health Department. Thank you so much for sitting down with us, Mariah.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 1:04

Thank you so much for having me.

Jerry Gretzinger 1:05

And so, yeah, one of the things that you guys have done with some of these funds, and we love this. It's an opportunity to bring services and supplies directly to people where they are using a mobile service.

Jerry Gretzinger 1:18

So a van. T ell us about that.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 1:19

Yeah, so one of our first initiatives when our county received settlement dollars was to buy a decommissioned ambulance and it's a mobile unit and we use that throughout the community. We have six, soon to be seven, set sites where we do harm reduction services, including syringe services, and we were actually the first county-led syringe services program. We're a second tier syringe services program.

Jerry Gretzinger 1:50

And so about two years it's been running right?

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 1:52

Yes.

Jerry Gretzinger 1:53

And so I asked you before we started recording if you knew approximately how many people have benefited from the services this van provides, and it's a pretty good number.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 2:03

Yeah, so our enrolled number is around 430. We do provide services to people who are not enrolled as well. You need to enroll to get the syringes, but we also give out other harm reduction supplies naloxone, testing strips, basic living stuff like hats and gloves, socks, things like that as well.

Jerry Gretzinger 2:26

Yeah, you know, we were actually out and we saw the van a little while ago and you're absolutely right, there's more than just some of those you know supplies that can help somebody who's living with substance use. We saw socks, you know and like you said, some hygiene supplies.

Jerry Gretzinger 2:41

So it really is.

Jerry Gretzinger 2:41

It's trying to provide what people need, whatever that might be.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 2:44

Yes.

Jerry Gretzinger 2:46

So you talk about over 400 people over the past two years and when you say enroll, right. So what does somebody do if they want to enroll and like, what's the benefit of enrolling versus not enrolling?

Jerry Gretzinger 2:56

That kind of thing.

Understanding Harm Reduction Approach

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 2:56

Yeah, so the only difference between being enrolled and not enrolled is it's anonymous all across the board, um, but if somebody is enrolled, they will, um they'll, get a code related to their name, um, and they can receive, uh, sterile syringes from us, um, and they can come back, uh, in the card also identifies that they're enrolled as a participant with the syringe services.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 3:25

If they're ever have a situation where they might have syringes identified by law enforcement.

Jerry Gretzinger 3:32

Understood. Gotcha and I always think it's important we have an opportunity to do this, but to explain to people what harm reduction is and the importance of harm reduction. Some people have a hard time understanding what harm reduction does, the intent behind it, so help us out with that a little bit.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 3:51

Yeah, so for us it's really about autonomy. Not everybody is at a place where they are going to pursue treatment.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 4:10

It's taking steps to keep people safer at any stage they are in their recovery process.

Jerry Gretzinger 4:12

I think it's important sometimes for people to understand what you just said. It's that not everyone is ready the minute they see you to say I'm going to start that treatment journey, but what we want to do is keep them safe and healthy until they are.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 4:25

Yes.

Jerry Gretzinger 4:26

And I was talking to one gentleman who drives the van. He said he goes out there all the time to the different neighborhoods and he said what's nice is that this gives them a place to go in their neighborhood. When they're ready to make that step, they've already got a relationship with the person who's in there helping them out. And when they're ready to say I want to take a few more steps towards treatment, they can do that easily. The accessibility is so much better.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 4:52

Yeah, absolutely, they do connect with our staff on the van. We also have a designated peer specialist with the van at every location and that's somebody who is certified as a peer specialist and it's somebody who has lived experience and so that individual can kind of walk beside the person as they navigate whatever steps they're trying to take to improve their situation.

Peer Support and Delivery Options

Jerry Gretzinger 5:19

So the van goes out and it's obviously got the supplies, but then we've got a peer who can speak to somebody who's walked the walk.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 5:25

Yes, yes, absolutely, and our staff were very lucky in the program. Almost all of us have lived experience of some sort, so you don't have to be a peer to experience that within our programming, and I really think it makes all the difference.

Jerry Gretzinger 5:42

Yeah, you know, a big push obviously is to try to eliminate the hurdles that people have to getting harm reduction supplies or treatment. And certainly people in certain communities, you know, may not be of any type of means to get themselves to a physical location, but having it come to their neighborhood changes the game.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 5:59

Yeah, absolutely, and we actually also will mail certain supplies like naloxone test strips. We have a by-request mailing service. We recently also just started doing delivery, so if somebody maybe is homebound or is not able to get to a location on the day that we're there, we can also deliver to them as well.

Jerry Gretzinger 6:21

Well, that's great. That's certainly helpful to a lot of people.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 6:25

Yeah.

Staff Commitment and Settlement Impact

Jerry Gretzinger 6:25

So I want to ask you this question too before we get to wrapping up. But lots of challenges and struggles facing folks who provide services like these these days with funding and talk about funding cuts and that sort of thing. But we see today that the men and women who are out there providing these services are still coming in, they're still getting in that van, they're still going out to the communities meeting with the people they've been meeting with for the past couple of years and I just feel like to me, I think to myself these people are driven. There's a reason they want to do this, you know, because it means something. They see the difference that they're making Speak to their resolve. The folks you work with out there, you know meeting people where they're at.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 7:08

Yeah. So I've been very fortunate um this to build this program. I've been with the county for eight years and we didn't do any of these things when I started. I've been able to direct. I've been deeply fortunate and it has been a priority of mine and our commissioner and in our county to employ folks who do have that lived experience, um, and I really think like it. I find it a little bit uncommon when people who are really committed to this um don't have a connection but um our folks. It's not about it's not about money. It's about assisting somebody in the way that they may have been assisted at some point during their journey.

Jerry Gretzinger 8:00

Yeah, which I think also speaks to the role of the peer right. Yes, Because, these people are here because they've been there, they've done that and they want to help other people along their journey.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 8:08

Yeah.

Jerry Gretzinger 8:09

Yeah, this is a great combination of so many different things the accessibility to be able to talk to somebody who understands where they've been and get the services, the supplies as we said, you know, socks and hygiene supplies. What a great use, I think uh, maybe I'm biased, but of these opioid settlement funds to get out there and really change people's lives.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 8:28

Yeah, it it, the settlement funds as a whole has been transformative for our program. Obviously, we did begin our mobile harm reduction efforts within the community. We actually just recently employed a nurse practitioner who has a specialty in substance use work and with the unhoused population, so our initial idea for that was wound care, but she also does a number of other acute care physical health things, some mental health treatment as well and that also was funded through settlement dollars.

Jerry Gretzinger 9:05

We're very happy to hear money going to use the way it is. So, Mariah, thank you so much for the work you do and for sitting down with us today to talk about it on the podcast.

Mariah Senecal-Reilly 9:13

Thank you so much for having me.

Closing and Resources

Jerry Gretzinger 9:14

And listen. If you are looking for any information on how to get supplies or services, you can always go to our website. That's oasas. ny. gov. You can also call the HOPEl ine, it's 877-8-HOPE-NY. I'm your host for Addiction: The Next Step, Jerry Gretzinger. Until we see you next time, be well.